It has now been about a year since the beginning of what has been for me a very important project, a goal that at first seemed too big, for which today I can look at the world with my head held high saying: “MY FIRST BOOK IS FINALLY OUT”.

Dear readers, those of you who have been following me for some time now are aware of my passion for cooking and my desire to stand out in a world that is so varied that it is very easy to get lost.
For those of you who are new, let me introduce myself. My name is Vittoria Caterina Giachi, I am a simple girl who lives in the Tuscan countryside, among the beautiful vineyards of my beloved Italy. Since I was a little girl I have always loved to cook, I loved watching my grandmother and the love with which she rolled out the pasta for tagliatelle. Over the years I have grown, becoming taller and bigger, and with me has grown my passion for cooking but, above all, for food.

My love for food

I madly LOVE to eat, that simple act so natural to man has become a lightning thrill that fleetingly runs through every corner and cavity of me. But I’m not talking about simply eating, I’m talking about tasting, smelling, living intensely. Because as Francois de la Rochefoucauld said, “To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art”.

So, to carry on this ideal and transmit to the world the ancient culture of my country, but in detail of my family, in August 2020 I decided to write a book: a simple set of pages that contain a wonderful story.

With the help of trusted family cooks I have reworked ninety of the best known and most sought after recipes here in the beautiful lands of Tuscany: from bistecca alla fiorentina to the classic cantucci, from pappa al pomodoro to stracotto alla fiorentina. I embarked on a journey splashing with life and joy, I laughed, joked and, above all, cooked. Flour in my hair, noise of rolling pins and many, many vegetables to cut.

Because you have to know, as I have learned myself since a few days ago since I am attending an intensive cooking course, that the cook’s job consists mainly in cutting vegetables and, as we say here in Tuscany, in “rigovernare” (i.e. putting them back in place).
But jokes aside, cooking is an art of infinite beauty, a river in flood of passion, curiosity, discoveries and flavors. I have tried to encapsulate in a few simple pieces of paper all my devotion to it, the respect I reserve for it, the love that accompanies me every time I turn on the stove.

Origin of my first cookbook

But let’s not get lost in a long discussion. One rainy morning I found, among the dusty shelves of the family tower in San Gimignano, an old manuscript belonging to one of my ancestors and containing the basics of Tuscan cooking. At that point, already a secret admirer of food, I decided to try all those recipes that sounded so inviting.

I soon realized that the ingredients they once used have now been replaced by healthier, less heavy and certainly more easily digestible foods. Therefore, seized by a brilliant idea and spurred on by my family, I embarked, armed with greater knowledge at my side, on the boat of the cook, but above all of the writer.

I realize that I’m neither one nor the other, I’m not a college graduate (actually, I’m not even a high school graduate because I’m only sixteen), so don’t hold it against me if sometimes I’m wrong, or if I’m not perfect, because my journey has just begun and I don’t intend to end it anytime soon.

If you are ever interested in following my journey and venturing into my life you can not only buy my book, which is not only a cookbook but also a story about my lifestyle and the Italian one in general, but you can follow me and interact with me through social networks.

Follow me, if you like, on @vittoriacaterinagiachi, both on Instagram and Facebook, but also on Tik Tok, or on Pinterest! Enjoy experimenting and learning with me, watch my video recipes to learn even better! And if you liked my book let me know (I will be extremely grateful to each of you) by tagging or quoting me with the hashtag #vittoriagiachi.